My Thoughts on A.I. (Are We All Doomed?)

A lot of people ask me if I’m concerned about A.I.

For the most part, I’ve held off talking much about this since I’m not an expert in that field, but enough people have asked so here’s my answer:

Nope.

The fact of the matter is, I’m not concerned about A.I. for a few reasons. In this post I’ll be sharing some of those reasons, sharing my thoughts on the importance of craft, and sharing some tips that I believe can help you as an artist or designer operating in a world that is increasingly turning to A.I. (and by the way, this blog post will be in my own words, no Chat GPT here haha.)

LET’S FACE SOME FACTS

Before A.I. was as prevalent as it is now, I’d meet people all the time who were baffled that I could find work as a lettering artist. “Why do people pay that much money to have you draw letters? Can’t they just use a font?” In fact, I get that comment more than any other when it comes to my lettering work.

The same types of things have been said to be about murals “why would anyone pay to get something painted on the wall if they could just use vinyl?”

The fact of the matter is, my job has been “obsolete” from the very beginning. People can just use a font. Or vinyl. Or A.I.

It’s silly to pretend that technology isn’t advancing and won’t continue to advance. That’s how it’s always been. And that doesn’t have to be bad. The invention of the printing press made calligraphy less prominent then it had been before hand, but it also allowed information to be spread across the world in a much more efficient and wonderful way that completely changed history forever. The invention of the camera made illustration much less prominent. But it also allowed people to capture historical events, and people and places in a way that never could have been done with a painting. The invention of digital typefaces and word processors rendered a lot of forms of design and hand lettering obsolete, but now design as a whole has gotten better and easier for everyone to enjoy.

A.I. exists. But t it will never be as good as the work I do by hand. 

THERE IS HOPE

The fact is, there are a lot of people out there who will choose to cut corners, to take the easy route and to do things the quickest cheapest way possible. But there are a lot of other people out there who value good, high quality, custom work. People who want design in their life that is meaningful and long lasting. And those are my clients.  With that in mind, here are some of my thoughts on things you can do as a creative to stay in the game and to have a happy career as an artist in the 2020s.

HONE YOUR CRAFT

I’m an optimist, and have always been a big fan of choosing to look at things through a positive lens. One of the funny contradictions of A.I. is this:

A.I. makes it easier for anyone to create images and makes design more accessible for everyone.

Since everyone and their dog can pump out illustrations and design using A.I. the amount of crappy design in the world is also going to increase exponentially.

As an artist, you can either let that make you super mad, or you can look at it as an opportunity to be better and to make better work.

This is done by putting in some good-old fashioned hard work. The fact is, the creative people who want to take the easy route, cut corners, and make sub-par work will not survive in the changing creative landscape. But the people who who really put in the time and effort to create good work will stand out and will get hired.

Here’s a real life example of this. Back in 2019 I had an ice cream shop in Austin TX reach out to me about creating branding for their company Besame. Turns out, I wasn’t the first designer they had hired and the problem they had with the previous designers was this: “All the work they send looks the same.” They had tried using online tools and even less expensive lettering designers, but at the end of the day, they hired me because they knew I would make good, quality lettering work that would stand out. Now five years later, Besame is still using the branding and lettering work that I created and still hires me to do projects because they know the work I do will be beautiful, and function, but also unique and different.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

Another great thing about being creative is that we can think outside the box! Unlike A.I. that can only draw from existing ideas, we have the unique ability to create in a new and different way. This means that it’s going to be more important than ever to change your thinking. If all you do is try to create work that looks like the work of other designers or artists that you like, it’s going to be difficult to stand out. But if you can put yourself in your work and focus instead on making work that is unique to YOU and solve problems in a way that is different and interesting, you’re going to be just fine.

(Shameless plug, if you’re into lettering and you want to learn how to design unique letters and develop your own personal style rather than just copying the style of other artists, that’s exactly what I teach you how to do in my online Hand Lettering Classes which you can find here.)

For more thoughts on this topic, I’d recommend reading the book A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. It’s a fantastic read with a lot of great suggestions on how to start using your right brain.

You can see a fun example of this in some work that I did for Utah Valley University and their 2020 marketing campaign. I was hired for this project to do some custom lettering that would be used on advertisements, digital posts, billboards, environmental graphics and more. Originally the plan was to create all the designs using adobe illustrator but when we were working on some of the billboard designs, I decided to pitch a new idea. What if instead of just doing some digital hand lettering, we actually hand painted a mural to SHOW that the designs were created by hand (and in turn show that UVU values giving their students real, hands-on experience.) So with that idea, I ended up painting a physical mural and working with the marketing team to do a photoshoot that was then used for the campaign. It ended up being one of their most successful campaigns yet and connected with the audience in a fun unique way that never would have been possible with A.I.

BUILD AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

After working as a freelancer for almost seven years I’ve learned an interesting lesson: clients don’t just hire me for my work, they hire me for ME.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve landed a new client project where the client says something along the lines of “We just love you and your personality” or “we just love you and the way you care about small business and shopping local” or “we love you and your faith.” The fact is, there are a lot of lettering artists out there who my clients could. hire, but often times, they hire me for ME.

The more you can build an emotional connection with your clients, the more you’ll be able to get meaningful work as a creative person. And those meaningful relationships will never be able to be replaced by A.I.

Clients want to work with creatives who share their values and who care about the same things as them. For more thoughts on how to connect with clients and land new jobs, check out my post on How To Get Work As A Freelancer.

Another great example of this is the work I’ve been able to do for Ballerina Farm. Ballerina Farm is a working farm and brand operating in Kamas Utah with almost 10 Million followers on Instagram. Last summer I had the opportunity to do a bunch of sign painting for them. They could have hired any number of designers (or could have used vinyl and not hired a sign painter at all,) but the reason they chose me over anyone else is because I’ve made a point over and over again in my brand to talk about how much I value slowing down, putting craft first, and supporting my local community. Since those are values they share, I was at the top of their list when it came time to hire a sign painter and designer.

Those exact same values helped me land clients like Laurel Mercantile, Find Lab, House of Hospitality and more.

IN CONCLUSION

I’m grateful to all the wonderful businesses I’ve been able to work with over the years who recognize the importance of preserving craft. Who love art and design that has a soul to it. And because of people like that, I’m not worried about A.I. as long as there are still people who love quality work, there will always be work for me (and other designers who are serious about what they do,) for me to do.

I know everyone has a lot of thoughts on this topic, feel free to drop them in the comments below.